Control of <i>Drosophila melanogaster</i> (Diptera: Drosophilidae) by trapping with banana vinegar

Abstract Vinegar is considered by the United States Environmental Protection Agency to be a minimum risk trap additive, and as Drosophila melanogaster Meigen (Diptera: Drosophilidae) is attracted to vinegar, this study was conducted to determine the efficiency of removal of D. melanogaster from a standard size room using traps containing banana vinegar and a minimum risk surfactant. The goal was to achieve a significant reduction of an initial D. melanogaster population at deployment levels of less than 1 trap/m 2 of floor surface area. We found that four cylindrical traps containing banana vinegar captured an average of 71 out of 100 released D. melanogaster during a 10-replicate trial in a 2.65 m high × 3.05 m × 4.8 m (38.8 m 3 volume, 14.64 m 2 floor area) room. This result shows that using these traps only 1 trap/3.66 m 2 of floor area results in capture of 71 % of D. melanogaster .